Super Bowl Means Big Bucks for Advertisers

The Super Bowl is on track to remain one big, glitzy bash even in these tough economic times.

That's not to say some advertisers aren't nervous about buyingexpensive ad slots as business falters. Some stalwarts such asGeneral Motors Corp., FedEx Corp. and Garmin Ltd. won't beadvertising on the Feb. 1 broadcast on NBC. Playboy EnterprisesInc. isn't throwing its customary party at the game, for the firsttime in nine years.

But aggressive marketing by NBC to secure ad deals before lastSeptember's financial meltdown helped to ensure Super Bowl XLIIIwon't be a marketing bust.

NBC said 90 percent of the Super Bowl ads had sold as ofmid-January. Most ads have sold for about $3 million per 30-secondspot - an all-time high price for the Super Bowl, which is the mostwatched event in the nation, with about 100 million U.S. viewers.This year's game will be between the Arizona Cardinals - which wonthe NFC Conference Championship with a 32-25 victory over thePhiladelphia Eagles Sunday - and the winner of the AFC title gamebetween the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers.

The sales pace matched those of previous years and the networksaid it was in discussions on the remaining unsold spots. Most arein the fourth quarter, and tend to go for slightly less than otherpositions in the broadcast.

"There is unrivaled attention surrounding the game," saidBrian Walker, senior director of communications at NBC Sports inNew York. "As research confirms, it remains the most powerfulvehicle for an advertiser to promote its brand and products."

While some high-profile advertisers have pulled the plug, manyare staying put and some, such as Mars Inc.'s Pedigree pet food,will appear in the Super Bowl for the first time.

But the tone of some ads this year will reflect tough times. AsTim Calkins, marketing professor at Northwestern University'sKellogg School of Management puts it: A good ad connects with itsaudience. And that audience is stressed about finances.

Take the case of Hyundai Motors America.

Automotive ads during the Super Bowl tend to focus on vehiclelaunches, and Hyundai was planning to run two 30-second spots forits Genesis Coupe - one with renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma playing aBach piece that viewers can re-edit online.

But now, the South Korean carmaker might exchange one of the adsfor a spot featuring a new incentive program that forgives autoloans for car buyers who lose their income within a year of thepurchase.

"We know consumers are concerned about their future earnings,"said Joel Ewanick, vice president of marketing at Hyundai MotorCo.'s Fountain Valley, Calif.-based American division. "That'skeeping a whole bunch of people on the sidelines from buying a newcar."

Longtime Super Bowl patron Anheuser-Busch is taking a differentapproach. The Budweiser brewer said it wants its ads to uplift andentertain viewers instead of reminding them about the economy.

The company is still spending heavily on the Super Bowl, evenafter announcing 1,400 job cuts in December that were tied to itsacquisition by InBev SA. Anheuser-Busch will be airing 4½ minutesworth of ads - 30 seconds more than what it purchased last year -broken up into two 60-second ads and five half-minute spots.

The Super Bowl remains a unique marketing vehicle because it'sknown as much for its commercials as the game itself. A TNS Mediasurvey released this month confirmed that people watch commercialsthroughout the game, instead of switching channels.

"The Super Bowl remains as truly the only property that has theability to reach the largest mass audience across all demographicsat one time," said TNS Media CEO Dean DeBiase.

That's why Audi of America is staying put and buying a 60-secondspot. The Germany automaker Audi AG wants to raise its profile as aluxury brand for younger, affluent consumers.

"We need to make the Audi brand far more popular and far moreknown," said Chief Marketing Officer Scott Keogh. "That's why wedo the Super Bowl and the Olympics."

Last year, traffic to Audi's Web site tripled in the month leading up to the Super Bowl - as details about the ads were teased - and the month immediately after.

The Go Daddy Group Inc., which registers Internet domain names,is unapologetic about splurging on the Super Bowl. This is the samecompany that unabashedly threw a $2 million holiday party lastmonth - flying in thousands of employees and guests to Arizona - asother firms cut back. CEO Bob Parsons rode a motorcycle into aconcert that featured Joan Jett and Sinbad at Phoenix's ChaseField.

GoDaddy is elated that NBC has approved two somewhat racy adsfor the Super Bowl, one of which will air after a consumer vote.Censors disapproved its ad for last year's Super Bowl, so GoDaddyaired a spot telling viewers to go to its Web site to watch thecommercial. Scottsdale, Ariz.-based GoDaddy got 1.5 million Webhits before the game ended.

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